Margao blast indicates intelligence failure, admits Goa minister

Goa Home Minister Ravi Naik on Monday admitted that the Margao blast, in which two members of a right-wing Hindu group were killed on October 16, indicated an intelligence failure.

"State intelligence agencies had no knowledge of the blast in the commercial town, which clearly indicates their failure," Naik told a local media channel during a television show on Monday night.

"Sanatan Saunstha was under the police scanner after the Thane and Panvel blasts in Maharashtra, but despite this they (intelligence agencies) had no inkling of what is being conspired by its members," he said.

Two Saunstha members -- Malgonda Patil and Yogesh Naik -- died in the blast and were named as accused in the case, while two more were arrested later for planting a bomb at Sancoale, 20 kms away from the blast site.

The minister informed that the state government was contemplating a ban on the right-wing group, if their role was proved conclusively in the blast, which occurred after an explosive device kept in a scooter went off on a busy street in Margao, 30 kms from Panaji, on Diwali eve.

"We are studying their literature and have kept a watch on their activities," he said.

The minister said that he has asked the Special Investigation Team to probe the blast sans any political interference. "I will take action against anyone trying to politically influence the police," Naik said.

He added that an earlier police complaint, lodged against the Saunstha mouthpiece, should have been probed properly. Prashant Naik, a social activist, had lodged a police complaint against 'Sanatan Prabhat', the group's mouthpiece, for urging people to observe Independence Day as Black Day.

"The file never reached me or else I would have initiated stern action against the publishers," the home minister added.